Thome's 537th lifts White Sox

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, September 7, 2008

Thome homered in the 15th inning to move ahead of Mantle on the career list and give the White Sox a 7-6 victory over the Angels in Chicago to extend their AL Central lead Saturday night.

Thome's 537th home run came off Justin Speier and put him in sole possession of 14th place.

"Those names, they're icon names," Thome said. "It's kind of surreal to be in a group of that many great players. You appreciate it but you have to move on. We're in a pennant race."

The White Sox moved 2 1/2 games in front of second-place Minnesota with their third consecutive victory and second in a row over the Angels in this matchup of division leaders.

The White Sox have their biggest lead since a three-game cushion on July 26. And they won again without outfielder Carlos Quentin, who is scheduled for surgery Monday on his broken right wrist and could miss the rest of the season.

"The pitching staff on both sides came in and did their jobs," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. "And it ended with a bang with Jim Thome, a guy who has 500-plus home runs. ... If you're going to lose, sometimes you have to lose like that."

Thome drove an 0-1 pitch well beyond the right-field wall with one out in the 15th for his 30th homer this season. It was his 11th career game-ending homer and the fifth for the White Sox this year - a dramatic end to a wild game.

Rangers 15, Red Sox 8: Tim Wakefield, pitching his 500th game for Boston, allowed seven runs in a span of nine batters in the second inning. Host Texas was powered by Nelson Cruz's two towering home runs and a double. He drove in five runs. Josh Hamilton drove in three runs to push his majors-best RBI total to 124.

Yankees 7, Mariners 4: Bobby Abreu homered and drove in three runs and Jason Giambi also connected as New York rallied for five runs in the seventh inning to win in Seattle. The Yankees overcame four RBIs by the Mariners' Raul Ibañez to move 7 1/2 games back of Boston in the AL wild-card standings.

Royals 3, Indians 1: In Kansas City, Gil Meche gave up three hits in seven innings to win for the first time in more than a month.

Wild-card race

W

L

GB

Red Sox

83

58

-

Twins

78

64

51/2

Yankees

76

66

71/2

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